Abstract

Rare-gas excimers are the most promising laser media for intense coherent sources in the vacuum uv spectral range. The lasers had been realized only in high-pressure gases (20-40 atm) excited by high-energy e-beams.¹ From the viewpoint of their applications, high-repetition-rate rare-gas excimer lasers are desirable. Efthimiopoulos and co-workers reported that they observed stimulated emission at 126 nm from Ar₂ dimers excited electrically in a nozzle discharge followed by supersonic expansion ^2,3 Many investigators have tried to follow their experiments, thus far, no one has succeeded in observing the corresponding emission.

© 1992 Optical Society of America